ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an introduction to the state of nature, followed by a thought experiment. It is followed by a short discussion and then a series of questions. The state of nature is a key ingredient to many great political philosophers works. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau use the state of nature as a way of starting to think about many issues. Although each thinker varies in the details, the general idea is the same: namely, people start the political philosophy from the state of nature. The thought experiment presents a case of a one hundred people who are on a cruise around the Bermuda triangle. The questions are intended to get the philosophy students thinking about the problems. They have used these kinds of questions in seminars as the questions set for seminars. The chapter also gives a cursory sketch of some of the ways in which philosophers have responded to the thought experiment.
